Valentina grabs me, "I need you to focus, Alaric.You can't let shit sidetrack you.Remember when we were all getting blood drawn
back at school.You told me to be
brave.To focus.
I need the same from you right now."

The argument with her brother is getting worse.
I dislike Ignacio more than I've ever disliked anyone in my life.The way he is looking at me right now,
standing next to Sunday gets underneath my skin.Ignacio knew damn well that he had said those
things about Sunday.Sunday looks
awkward.He looks like he wants to be
anywhere but here.Ignacio on the other
hand looks just pissed.He looks like he
wants to kill me and I was willing to give him the shot.

We don't get the opportunity.Something is happening.Zoe screams out.

We turn at that moment and notice what is going on outside.

"Holy shit..." is all I can bring myself to say.

There are all of these people outside.They aren't like us though.They are swarms of people. They all look sick
wandering around aimlessly.They bang up
against the glass on the store.Mr.
Drake and the others are attempting to secure the door.I don't think it's working really well for
them.

"What the hell is wrong with them?"
Valentina asks.

"They were bitten."

We all turn to Luna who just spoke.She
is on the opposite side of the wall.
She's glued there.She looks so
upset over something.The girl has
always been creepy.Whether it was
staring at me at weird moments or following me around.But this had to take the bait.For some reason Luna seemed to know exactly
what is going on.He stares at us with
her wide eyes.

"How do you know?" Michael Power asks her.

She doesn't answer.
She just keeps staring out wide eyed and dumb almost as though not
really understanding the question.She
did hear the question, loud and clear.

"How the hell do you know?" Zoe barks at Luna even louder.

Luna didn't hang around girls like Zoe.Guys like Michael Power hardly realized she
existed.She was that quiet odd girl who
listened to music and didn't speak to anyone.
Everyone else had friends.Even
Mitch, the guy who got picked on the most.
He hung out with the art kids.
Luna didn't really have friends.
No one knew much about her.She
always dressed as like she was going to a funeral.Always dressed in black.Even now she had on all black.She looked scary to say the least.

I can tell Michael Power and the others were getting more
and more impatient with her.Ignacio is
giving her a hard look.They look like
they are about to go in on her.

I don't know what gets over me.

I put my arm out, "Guys who cares how she knows? Right now
she seems to be the only one who knows what's going on.Maybe we should hear her out instead of
trying to fucking scare her."

The others get quiet.I know raising
their voices at Luna would just make her retract a little bit.She looks at me and she smiles.Not with her teeth. She smiles with the sides
of her mouth in a real awkward way.I
smile back, hoping that at least it would make her feel a little comfortable to
open up to us.She has that innocent
look on her face.It's real
innocent.

"They aren't alive, not in the way that we think..."

"What do you mean?"Zoe asks, "They are
walking around.You see them fucking
walking around..."

Zoe points outside.

There is a loud bang.
It causes half the room to scream.
There is a dent in the glass.A
guy is outside.He has a glazed over
look and a shirt on that says ZipTrip.
It's the same gas station that we are located at now.He works here.Or at least he used to.Right now, I'm not sure he is ever going to
work anywhere else again.He nearly
shatters his head when he bangs it up against the glass.As if that's not enough, he steps back and
rams it up against the glass again.

"They have no sense of preservation," Valentina butts in, "That's
what you mean right Luna?Even animals
have a sense of preservation.An
acknowledgement of life to avoid danger.
These things don't have that.All
they have is some sort of hunger."

"What could cause it?" I ask.

Valentina was smart.
If Luna was too shy to help us figure this thing out than who else
better than Valentina.She runs her
hands through her hair.I've noticed her
doing that when she was deep in thought.
She stares out at the glass.Then
she starts walking right up to them.

"Valentina, what the fuck are you doing?" Ignacio asks.

I wonder the same thing.I chase after
her to make sure that she's OK.Her
curiosity isn't what we need right now.
She makes her way up to the glass and I stay close by.Together we can see the things snarling.All you see is saliva and spit.The blood stains the glass.It's not the regular color of blood.It has turned almost like someone who has
been dead for quite some time.

"People were sick.A
lot of people.Right?" she asks.

"Right."

"What if this is some sort of virus?" she asks, "A virus that doesn't kill
people off.Not so that they are dead
but takes over their body.Completely."

Zoe looks confused on at her friend, "How is it passed?"

"A bite," I respond.

I look at the guy with the ZipTrip uniform.Sure enough he has a bite on his arm.It is still clearly visible.Colored veins come out from the bite like
tree branches to other parts of his body.
It's some sort of infection.

We all look back at Luna.

She was right.
Somehow this girl knows exactly what is going on.Somehow she knows exactly what is causing
this and I have no idea how.She
realizes other people are staring at her so she turns away slowly...quietly.It's clear that she is shy.I feel bad for her.She's only trying to help.

"Michael Austin was bitten," Michael Power states.

A bite does it.Just
at that moment I look over at Sunday.I
see him adjusting something.Adjusting
his collar.He doesn't look
different.Actually he looks normal but
he was bitten.He was clearly
bitten.

My heart drops.

Was this going to happen to Sunday next?

"Enough of this," Mr. Drake says, "We'll deal with this when we get back to
Savannah.We'll tell the cops back home
what's going on out here.We need to
figure a way to get to that bus."

Mr. Drake and a few of the others walk way.
Valentina is with him.If anyone
can help figure things out it would be Valentina.
My eyes shoot over to Sunday.I'm worried about him.I saw him get bitten.I saw the bite mark.If this was happening to others then who
knew?It could happen to him as
well.My heart is racing scared that
this might happen to him.Sunday didn't
deserve something like this...but then again who did?

Michael Austin?The guy with the ZipTrip
uniform?Or the dozens of other dead
people walking outside.

I walk over to Sunday.

Maybe this disease was fair.
Anyone can get bitten.Anyone can
get sick.I remember the guy at the
hospital and how scared he was.I
remember when he shot Michael Austin.I
remember when he turned the gun to Valentina.
He was scared shitless.This
disease didn't discriminate.But right
now, I was being selfish.Right now I
just cared whether or not Sunday was OK.

"Are you OK?" I ask him.

"I'm fine," he shoots off.

I grab him before he can walk away, "Yo what's your problem?"

I'm just annoyed.I'm clearly concerned
about him and he's clearly acting as though he could care less.

"I just want to be left alone."

"If this is about how I acted after our little thing...you have to be patient
with me," I explain, "I'm not used to doing things...like that."

I can't help but to have the feeling that I've ruined things with Sunday.I withdrew like a fucking coward.Now that I found out that Sunday was bitten
things were different.I didn't have
forever to explore what was going to happen with him.What if he turned today?What if he turned in a few hours?He'd die without knowing that I enjoyed
those moments we spent.He'd die without
knowing that those moments we spent were the only moments in my life that I was
truly myself.

I swear he just called me a leach.
Hearing the words come out his mouth were harsh to say the least.

~

We are stuck in the damn market for hours.It's not getting any better.It's only getting worse.More of the infected have shown up.They crowd around the doors like a fucking
swarm of ants.They seem to know we are
there somehow.I'm not sure what their
senses are that are strong.Is it
sight?Is it smell?I'm not sure.
They just seem to KNOW that we are there and they seem to want to spread
their virus.The virus in them wants to
go further.It wants to spread.

"You OK?" a voice says, "You ain't sleeping."

I turn to see Michael Power.He's over
me.Zoe is asleep in the next
aisle.Valentina is over by the door
with Mr. Drake, Quest and Mitch.They
are still tryinig to figure out a way out of here.Sunday is next to Ignacio.They are talking about something. Luna is by
herself near the cooler aisle.I think
she might be getting something to eat or something.

"Just...worried."

I look across the aisle towards Sunday.
He's just sitting there.God the
kid is attractive.I don't even realize
until I see myself staring at him as hard as I do.He has this cute little expression on his
face because he's sleepy.Ignacio is
talking his ear off and I can see Sunday clearly attempting to stay up either
out of fear of going to sleep or out of fear of being rude to Ignacio.I wonder if Ignacio is trying to explain away
the whole gay thing.Maybe he's changing
the subject and acting as though it didn't happen.We both knew it did though.Either way Sunday isn't really excited about
whatever conversation they are having.

"So am I man.Zoe
sleeps all the goddam time.I can't
stand her."

"MP, I honestly can't deal with you complaining anymore about Zoe.If you hate her so much break up with her," I
let him know.

This wasn't the first time and it wasn't the last he'd
complain about Zoe.But she had money
and money meant the world to Michael Power.
He wasn't going to break up with Zoe just because.

"Nah," he responds, "I'll deal with her.Just annoyed that's all.Like lets be real.C`mon.
People are acting weird.I swear
Mr. Drake is acting weird.Look at
him.He's not surprised by any of this
shit.Heard him talking not too long
ago."

"Shut the hell up."

"No serious.He was talking on the
phone."

"No one has signal."

"Exactly.Why does he?"

"Power.You're tripping.Mr. Drake does not have a signal.You're imagining it."

"Oh yeah. Am I imagining Luna too?Luna,
the girl who got lost in the hallways at school seems to know more about what's
going on than we do.I don't trust none
of em."

I sigh, "Luna is harmless."

"Whatever.Say what
you want.I'm warning you.These people...they lost their minds."

"What are you talking about?"

"Luna talking about this virus bullshit."

"You think it's bullshit?" I ask Michael Power.

"Hell yeah.People are just messing with
us.You know social media has all these
challenges and shit nowadays.This has
to be some type of Zombie challenge or something."

I look at Michael Power.I swear the guy
has my back and that's the only reason I kept him around.He was dumb as a rock.

"You think this is social media challenge?Michael Austin was shot."

"Was he?Was he really?" Michael Power
asks, "I think this is all a hoax.I say
we ditch this place."

"You going out there?"

"Not the front.Out the back.Let's get Zoe and Valentina and while
everyones distracted we get out the back and head to Savannah ourselves.I saw a car on the way here."

I don't know why I'm surprised.Nixon.
My cool older brother who had everything made for him.He was always well taken care of.He was

"It was from some movie he was in.I
thought it was so cool. Asked him to teach me.
I know how to do it.It can't fit
everyone. So just the four of us."

Power is scared whether he wants to admit it or not.If he thought this was all some sort of hoax
there was no way he would want to be sneaking out the back.I knew him.
He had some balls.He would want to
go right out of the front to show off for Zoe.
That wasn't the case.

Power had a point though. The glass of the gas station walls wouldn't last
forever.Sooner or later they'd get in
here.I didn't want to be around to find
out if this was a hoax or if this was real.
I wanted to get out of here.I
didn't owe these people anything.

"I don't want to leave the others."

I look at Sunday when I say that.
Valentina wouldn't come anyway if Sunday or Ignacio were left
behind.Mitch, Luna, Quest and Dr.
Drake were also going to be left behind.
I knew Valentina though.I knew
her too well.

"This is your last chance man."

I shake my head.

"I'm good."

~

The next morning Michael Power and Zoe are gone.

"Did they just leave?"

I don't know if they made it but the truth is, yes, they just left.
Valentina is the one who asks me the question.She's shocked about Zoe just leaving her. I'm
not so much.Michael Power had always
been someone who was about self preservation.
He was the Running Back on the team.
He always would sell his soul and his teammates out just to get that extra
mile.I wasn't surprised.Nor did I really blame him.He was smart.
People like Michael Power survived.

People who stuck around hoping they can help someone didn't.They just never survived.

"We'll catch up with them back in Savannah," I tell
Valentina.

"They just left? Just like that?" Valentina keeps asking.

She looks upset.Actually Valentina is
in tears.Maybe she doesn't think Zoe
would just do something like that without telling her.They were best friends.It takes Ignacio to comfort Valentina to make
her stop crying.It's hard
honestly.Truth is I don't know.The others are looking at me for answers to
why Michael Power snuck out the back.
Some think he's dead.Others
think he made it.There's no time to
really sit around and wonder about it.

"I'm going to go out the back," I volunteer.

"You going to leave us?" Sunday asks.

I look back at him.It isn't really so
much of a question as a statement.He
probably looks at me like I'm Michael Power.
You know?The birds of a feather
flock together thing.Truth is I'm not
mad at Michael like the others.Maybe he's
right to a point.But I had my pregnant
girlfriend here.I

"I'm going to make my way to the front and get that
bus.I'll park it by that exit, the one
right there with the broken glass.When
I back the us up you guys jump right in."

"I'll go with you," Sunday says.

"Hell no," Ignacio butts in.

The moment Ignacio butts in I can tell that he doesn't want
me alone with Sunday.I wonder what he's
afraid of really.If Sunday couldn't
tell that one of his best friends has been in love with him forever than I don't
know what to tell him.Ignacio hasn't
left his side.That's the annoying
thing.Ignacio is being the biggest cock
block in history.And the truth is I'm halfway
glad.I was with Valentina.I was in a relationship honestly and I had a
baby on the way.The last thing I needed
were the complications with Sunday.

But honestly I liked the idea of Sunday.

"I can take care of him," I respond.

I sound desparate.A little too
desparate.

"We need some muscle back here, to make our way to the bus
once you back it in," Valentina jumps in.

I wonder if she's suspicious.I would be if I was her.Sunday was gay.It wasn't only that he was gay but it was
also clear that we had disappeared together.
Ever since then there has been a tension between Sunday and I.We knew what it was about.It was sexual tension.The question is how many other people knew
what it was about.Luna clearly did,
Ignacio must have had a feeling, but what about
Valentina?Did she suspect the truth
between Sunday and I?

I want to say something to stop him from staying.Truth is just a few minutes alone with Sunday
would have meant a lot.I just needed
some time to clear the air with him which didn't include Ignacio cockblocking,
or Luna acting weird or Valentina interrupting.
I just needed a few moments alone with him to figure out what the fuck
we had to figure out.

That would have meant the most to me.

"I'll come with you," Luna steps in.

"I can do it alone."

"You can use the back up," Mr. Drake responds.

Realizing that it's Luna who wants to come with me kind of
makes me uneasy.Luna is a sweet
girl.She always has been.That's not the problem.She's just so weird honestly.I can see the way she smiles with this broken
smile almost uneasy.Truth is I want to
know how she knows what she knows about the dead walking outside.I want to know how she does it.

I agree to take Luna with me, reluctantly.

We are armed with nothing more than two metal bars that we
found in the store.My heart is
racing.Truth is I'm scared to
death.

We head outside.The
sun is hot.It's beaming in the
air.It comes down on us like some
dreaded heat making us sweat up a storm.
Luna doesn't complain about it but I want to. This is shit!All shit.
Luckily there are no dead out the backdoor when we make it.It makes me believe that maybe Michael Power
made it out fine.

"This way," I tell Luna.

I am the man in this team.I want to
lead the way.I don't get the chance
though because Luna just jets out in front of me.She runs to the side of the building so fast
that I find myself chasing after her.
When she gets to the side of the building I see three of the dead.They notice us.You can tell because their eyes lift
slowly.The hands that they have reach
out like crazed lunatics.They spread
towards us attempting to grasp us.The
hands are clearly wanting to take, grab, hold us.Long enough so they can bite down.

I jump backwards.

Luna runs forward!

She runs like a madwoman and I almost scream after her.She runs right into one of the dead shoving
the metal bar right between their eyes.
She shoves it so deep and long within their eyes that it gets lodged in
them.

The dead falls to the ground instantly.

She jumps back towards me as the others rally forward slowly
but jerking forward quickly trying to grasp at us.

"You have to be careful," she tells me.

"I'll be careful."

"Don't think of them as human."

"What are they then?"

"Dead.Not human. They are dead.You understand?Yeah?
Good.You can't kill something
that's already dead Alaric.You have to
be quick about it.You get it.You have to kill them the moment you
can.No hesitation.Just do what you have to do.Kill them.
You get it?"

I nod, "Oh, ok."

"You have to get them in the head.The
virus.That's where it lives.In the head.
You have to do damage there."

"Step aside."

I used to play baseball before football.
That was lucky enough for me because I run forward and swing away with
the metal rod.I swing so hard that I
damn near clean one of the dead's head.The
impact causes it to fall over and it stops making noise.It's stop snarling.It stops spitting.It stops trying to grab.Luna was right.The head was where to hit it.Right in the head.

I make my way forward at that moment.
One after the other I hit them in the head.It's easy to the side because there weren't
many of them.When we make it to the front
however it's a completely different story.
There are dozens.

I take a look at the van.

"Stay here," I tell her, "I'll make a run for...LUNA!LUNA!"

I don't get the chance to make a run for it before Luna takes her.Her tiny frame speeds through the
zombies.Some of them reach out for
her.They can smell her but Luna takes
off as fast as she can.I can't help but
to follow closely behind her.I have no
choice.

The zombies follow behind us.My heart
is racing!Sweat is dripping down my
forehead.My feet feel like glue.The bus is close.So close.
I can almost smell old leather. I
am slowing down though.I don't know if
it's fatigue or fear, but I know I'm slowing down.

That's when I feel it.

The arm grabs me and pulls me to the ground!

"HELP!" I'm screaming out.

I don't' know what else to say.The dead zombie starts to bite towards
me.I feel it's drool falling down on my
shirt.I see the teeth.They are damaged.The teeth of someone who has been furiously
biting at something it shouldn't have been.
The teeth are still there though.
The dead man tries to bite down at me.
I shove my arm up against the throat preventing it from getting too
close.I push back as hard as I
can!I'm so tired.I have to find the strength though.I HAVE to find the energy.Valentina was depending on me.That baby was depending on me.

I think at that moment what would Nixon do.I had two older brothers but Nixon was always
got exactly what he wanted.Nixon wouldn't
call out for help.Nixon would fight
back.

So that's what I do.

I push the thing back.I push as hard as
I can.I reach to the ground with my
left hand while pushing back with my right hand.I strain!

I hurl spit right back at the fucking Zombie.

It's so close to biting me.
So close.I can feel it's breath
up against my arm.It's snapping.Any moment now.ANY MOMENT!

I find something!

A rock.

I grab it and immediately smash it against the Zombie's head as hard as I can.That's when I turn and make it to the
bus.I run as fast as I can and join
Luna.She helps me up.She looks over at me.She shuts the bus.The dead are surrounding the bus.They are all over it.

"We make a good team," Luna notices almost immediately.

"You're tougher than you look," I give her credit.

I remember how she ran forward.There
was no fear in her heart.The girl
definitely had courage.I couldn't take
that away from her.Her running forward
the way she did took something that a lot of people didn't have.

She nods before smiling, "Honestly, I just wanted time to be
with you."

That's when Luna does something I don't suspect.

She puts her hand up against my face.
She touches my face gently, almost with all this feeling.I push her away not really understanding what
the hell she was doing.

"Yo what's your problem?"

"I see you looking at me."

She is dead serious when she says that.
I don't get it.

Now if Sunday had said something like that he would have a
point. I stared at that kid all the time
trying to figure out what it is that got me so attracted to him.I stared at him all the time trying to figure
out my own sexuality and if those feelings I had when we were alone were worth
pursuing.He would be on point to ask me
to stop staring at him or stop pursing him.
Hell, even Valentina.I found myself still attracted to
Valentina.Luna though?Seriously.
Did this girl really think that I had some sort of crush on her or
something?

"Luna, I think you got it wrong."

"Wrong?"

The girl really was out of it.
I feel bad for her honestly.She wasn't the first girl in high school that
got a crush on me.I knew I was good
looking.Nixon used to warn me that
girls would go crazy over me.He said
that as a kid.Nixon AND Beric told me
how I should treat them.Be kind but be
stern.We were a good looking family.I didn't mean it in a cocky way.I was just being honest.Shit like this happened to us.But at the end of the day I didn't want to
hurt Luna's feelings, but I had to be strict, just like my brother Nixon taught
me.

"Luna, I look at you more as a friend.Just a friend for now."

Luna pauses.

"Really.I thought...you know we had
something in common.That we were both
onto Sunday."

I pause.

The hell was she talking about?

"On to Sunday."

"That's why you were pretending to be interested in him right?That's why you were pretending to be gay...or...oh
god...was that not you pretending?"

I pause.This girl was acting
weird.Real weird.How the hell did she think I was pretending
that day that she caught me with Sunday.

"I'm going to need you to spit it out," I tell her.

"You knew Sunday was special.You knew they wanted him, right?"

"Knew who wanted him."

Luna gets weird.That's saying a lot for
a girl like her.

She shakes her head, "Oh nevermind um...nevermind..."

"Who is they?Who wanted Sunday?"

"I already said too much," Luna responds, "We should get this bus going.The others are waiting for us to come get
them.I'm sorry for saying
something.I'm sorry for saying
anything."

She is shutting down.She must be
realizing that whatever fantasy she had playing in her head wasn't the
truth.That was good, but what I needed
to know was what information she had on Sunday.
What information she was attempting to give me right now.

I grab Luna's hand.

"No...we are on the same page..." I tell her.

"We are?"

I hold Luna's hand.It's wrong.It's all wrong putting her hopes up like this
but truth is I need to know what she knows about Sunday.I need to know how Luna knows so much about
all this zombie shit.So that's why I'm
doing what I'm doing.

"Yes . You're special."

"I am."

A smile spreads across Luna's face.The
girl is crazy.Crazy is saying the
least.She really thinks I'm falling for
her and right now I have no choice but to play up her little fantasy.

"Yeah," I tell her, "So special.That's why we need to continue this
connection.I need to know what you know
about Sunday and the zombies.What's the
connection?"

Luna pauses.

She heads to the steering wheel.She
turns on the car.I think she is going
to ignore me but she doesn't move the car.
She just sits there ready to move before turning to me.It's clear she has a lot on her head.I can tell by her expression.Something is really getting to her.

"No one sees me.In
school.At home.Anywhere.
No one sees me.I don't
exist.There is a good thing about not
existing though.You notice things.You hear things.You get in and out before anyone notices you
are there," Luna explains, "I found all the notes on what was going on. They
were locked up but I was curious.So
curious. So I snooped around.It's not
hard when no one notices you."

"What notes?"

"All the notes on the outbreak. All the notes on the dead.I couldn't take them, but I could read
them.I could memorize the little I knew.I could volunteer to go on a trip that would
take me far away from Savannah once the outbreak hit.That's hot it started.Right in Savannah."

"How do you know all this stuff?" I ask shaking her head, "Where did you find
these notes?"

"At the highschool.I would spy on him
and read his notes.I knew he was
looking for Sunday.I knew he wasn't who
he said he was.I knew he was a plant
from somewhere else.I overheard him on
the phone.I overheard him talking about
how Sunday was special.They had to find
him before the outbreak.They had to
keep him safe.They had to drain
him.It'll kill him.That's what they said, but they had to drain
him none-the-less before they caused the epidemic.The outbreak."

"The outbreak."

"This.Whatever is happening now.
It was all in his notes."

I pause.I have a feeling I know who he
is talking about.I remember what Michael
Power had said.Maybe Michael Power wasn't
bullshitting when he said it.He said
someone had a phone.A phone that was
working while everyone else didn't have a signal.

"Luna.Who is the person who had these
notes on Sunday?Who is the plant from
somewhere else?"

Luna looks over at me, "It's Mr.Drake."

My heart sinks.

I'm scared.I'm scared
to death.Mr. Drake hadn't been acting
surprised this whole time.He knew
something was up.I had no idea that he
knew beforehand.Luna mentioned
something about "they caused the epidemic."
Did she mean Mr. Drake?Did she
mean whoever sent Mr. Drake to our high school to pretend to be a high school
teacher?

I knew Mr. Drake was far too young to be a high school teacher.He was far too smooth.We didn't get guys like that as high school
teachers.He always seemed like
something else.Some agency.Maybe military?Something else that wasn't what he said he
was.

I find myself backing up to the school.I don't waste any time slamming right into
the store and opening the emergency lock so that they can jump in.

One after another they are all jumping in.

All of them except two.

"Where is Mr. Drake?" I ask panicking at that moment, "Where is Sunday?"

It's Ignacio who seems to panic as he looks back at me.Right at that moment he must see the panic in
my eyes.Anyone could realize that I discovered
something about Mr. Drake.

That's when Ignacio shakes his head, "Sunday went with Mr.
Drake.They said they were going to give
you guys back up."

"They never came."

"Should we be concerned?" Valentina asks me.

"Mr. Drake isn't who he says he is..."

"Who is he?" she asks.

I think at the moment.
I had spent so much time with this teacher.I had one on one's with him.I had opened up to him about my football
career and my relationship with Valentina.
I had looked at him as a mentor.
All the time Mr. Drake wasn't who he said he was.He wasn't here because of us.He was here because he wanted something from
Sunday.

"I don't know..."

We take off on the bus.We drive around
the area several times but one thing has become clear.No one says it until Valentina shakes a
little bit.I can tell she is worried
about her friend.I can see the look of
worry in her eyes.

She opens her mouth and admits what the rest of us are thinking at that moment.